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JDT Eyes All Three Points Against East Bengal Today

JOHOR BAHARU – Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) who will be facing East Bengal in the curtain raiser of the 2015 AFC Cup at the Larkin Stadium, here tonight, are hoping to collect all three points.

Coach Bojan Hodak said the home ground advantage will be fully utilised to beat the visiting team, which had just hired a new coach on Feb 17.

“We’re looking at three points but things might change since East Bengal coach has just arrived and this is probably a positive thing for their players. I feel they will also make some changes in the system and strategy.

“Because of that, we don’t have any idea about how they will perform,” he said at a pre-match press conference here yesterday.

JDT, one of the country’s representatives (besides Pahang) in the AFC Cup will feature in Group F along with Kitchee FC from Hong Kong, East Bengal (India) and Balestier Khalsa from Singapore.

To ensure the mission of acquiring all three points, Hodak hinted he could include striker Safee Sali in the starting line-up tonight.

“I might be looking into it because he was looking sharp in training. But I can only finalise it after completing our training,” he said.

Meanwhile, East Bengal coach Eelco Schattorie who replaced Armando Colaco said he had prepared his team as best as he could, using whatever information he had about his players.

“We are ready to compete,” said Schattorie who was previously coaching United Club in India.

Pahang will face Global FC from the Philippines, Yadanarbon (Myanmar), and South China (Hong Kong) in Group G of the tournament. Watch match live, TV3, 8.30pm. – BERNAMA